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Nutrition Thread |OT| You Can't Outwork A Shit Diet

I'm wondering if it's due to the increase in protein from about 120g per day to well over 200g (following a 40/30/30 macro split).

Like I said before, as much as you don't want to eat the extra carbs, or fat, you're much better working to a protein target rather than a percentage macro... especially if you've got kidney issues already.
 

mdsfx

Member
Like I said before, as much as you don't want to eat the extra carbs, or fat, you're much better working to a protein target rather than a percentage macro... especially if you've got kidney issues already.
Yep. Don't have a choice now. Hopefully I feel some relief after today's changes.
 

Azulsky

Member
As long as your are eating in surplus then you dont have to worry about higher protein macros because all the protein can be used for muscular repair and your body will be used your carb intake for energy.

The only time the high protein 1g/lb stuff holds any water is when you are in a big caloric deficit and your body will be using everything you put in your mouth for energy.

Making the transition to eating more is tough. Make sure to up your vegetable intake for colonic health, constipation is ... shitty. I try to eat a serving or 2 with each meal.
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
For being a Nutrition OT, the OP really only covers half the subject. The other half should talk about what you're putting into your body, such as the quality of food. Not all protein is equal for one. It could go into what ingredients to look out for, the science of GMOs, terms, and other factors (like sodium and sugar levels, whole wheat vs. multigain), etc. The other half is much harder to do. You can make you intake goals while putting less desirable ingredients in your body.

Right now I'm struggling deciding what brand of meat I should eat. Fooducate is a helpful app but it's limited and not always clear how items are rated.
 

Azulsky

Member
Right now I'm struggling deciding what brand of meat I should eat. Fooducate is a helpful app but it's limited and not always clear how items are rated.

From a nutritional perspective there is some fatty acid differences between corn/grass fed and that's about the only major difference.

The antibiotics and hormone stuff, from a perspective of it directly hurting you, its scaremongering. None of that stuff survives from the animal, especially not through your digestive tract. There is a reason its administered intravenously in the first place.

Quality varies but that's due to grading of the animal, Walmart does not get the same cuts a higher end butcher does.
 

Fox318

Member
What's one of those?

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Vhalyar

Member
I'm getting close to finishing my cut. I'm at 14-15% body fat, aiming for 10%.

At this point I'm actually kind of dreading the day when I'll have to eat more. I lift weights 3x a week and do cardio 2-3x on off days and it's been insanely tough to only eat 1100-1300kcal a day and I might just ditch out the cardio.

Once I reach my goal I'll need to slowly reverse and start gobbling up more so that I can make proper physical progress. Have honestly no idea how I'll change my diet for that :/
 
The only real value to IF is the potential convenience of consolidating your eating. All the other claims are unsubstantiated at this point.

There are psychological advantages that people experience, that will always be difficult to substantiate, however you can try it and discover them. One particular advantage is it snaps bad habits. By having (say) two days where you fast, or are on 500 calories, daily habits are broken. You might still make them 5 day a week habits but you're obliged to analyse and exert will-power. If you are a pack a day smoker, having two days where you smoke nothing at all is definitely a much better first step to quitting than cutting to 16 a day.

For me at least, it is so much easier to fast for 2 days a week than it is to calorie count, and re-compose family meals to suit my own needs. It is also easier to not change shopping habits, and a whole list of other lifestyle changes. All the adjustment is reduced to just weekdays of my choice.

So the value of intermittent fasting, depending on ones situation, go beyond just re-arrangement of calories in the week. Everyone is different but unlike paleo or lo-carb or calorie restricted every day, all easy to contemplate and hard to maintain, this was difficult to contemplate yet easy to maintain.
 

Azulsky

Member
There are psychological advantages that people experience, that will always be difficult to substantiate, however you can try it and discover them. ..

Yeah that falls under my terrible umbrella term 'convenience'.

There is are a bunch of claims made based on biomarkers like insulin sensitivity, blood sugar, LDL, HDL that are not baseless but have not been rigorously compared to other eating schedules.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
What do you guys usually eat at night? I usually see people mention cottage cheese but that sounds bad, any other ideas?

Last night was 12 oz. New York steak, half a pound of a 20% fat hamburger and kimchi quickly fried up in coconut oil, some leftover chicken with shredded cheese, and a can of sardines in olive oil on top of a bed of spinach

These days it's usually something like the above. Large portions of various meat/fish/eggs/cheese alongside some non-starchy vegetables.

I do eat a very high fat/extremely low carb diet the majority of days, though.
 
So I have a question.

I've been pretty strict with maintaining specific calories for my diet.

Every morning I have quaker maple sugar oatmeal. 160 calories.

My parents recently bought me pumpkin spice waffles. 2 waffles = 160 calories according to the label.

If I was maintaining on the oatmeal, would I maintain on the waffles?
 

despire

Member
So I have a question.

I've been pretty strict with maintaining specific calories for my diet.

Every morning I have quaker maple sugar oatmeal. 160 calories.

My parents recently bought me pumpkin spice waffles. 2 waffles = 160 calories according to the label.

If I was maintaining on the oatmeal, would I maintain on the waffles?

Yes of course. Calorie is a calorie. You won't be breaking the laws of physics by eating pancakes instead of oatmeal.

Though I guess oatmeal would be a better choice by nutritional standards.
 

mdsfx

Member
Can i get by the day (or week(s), or month(s)) by having a boiled egg in the morning and a tuna can at lunch?
That's like 190 calories. Why would you eat so little? I don't think this would be fun to do for an extended period of time. I'm guessing you would feel very weak. I'm no doctor, but the idea of doing this for more than a few days seems unhealthy.

Edit: I guess I thought you meant this is ALL you would eat each day. Is that the case or are you eating dinner?
 

Dre

Member
Can i get by the day (or week(s), or month(s)) by having a boiled egg in the morning and a tuna can at lunch?

You might wanna try intermittent fasting instead of eating that awkwardly if you want to reduce your food intake. The 16h fasting / 8h eating window is a popular way to do IF.
 
Last year has been the most stressful year of my life, one bad thing after another. Fortunately, the later half I started to get my diet together, cutting carbs... until the holidays. Finally getting my life back in order this year and decided to begin a keto vegetarian diet (I've been a strict vegetarian for 10 years). I had a slip up last night when I started eating a bunch of purple sweet potatoes, but overall, I've been feeling great. Mood is better, more energy, and although I don't have my scale on me, I can already tell I've lost weight (i was at 130/133lbs at 5'6" before this). Doing a bulletproof coffee fast today and maybe tomorrow to get my body back in ketosis.

The best part about this is it's helped me begin recovery from pretty bad eating disorders.

It's freezing right now in Boston, so definitely keeping me in, but within the next week or two, I plan on beginning Jiu Jitsu classes.

It's insane how much sugar can affect you. I've lived with mental disorders all my life, medicine not really helping, but cutting most of this stuff out has helped with my mood and some of my ticks/ocd. It's amazing. I don't even really crave carbs anymore.
 
Nice one. Stay away from those sweet potatoes though. ;)

Well I bought a bunch of purple sweet potatoes when I was just on a no grain diet. Had to give them all to my roommates. White and purple sweet potatoes are amazing, less sweet more nutty.

Ugh.

It'll be much easier though, I have a kitchen scale coming in today, so I figured i could have one cheat day yesterday before I really get into it.

Side note: I'm having trouble finding accurate net carbs chart. EVERY chart I look up has a different amount, yeah a .5 difference doesn't sound like much, but when you only have 20 points and eat vegetarian, every little thing counts. Does anyone have any suggestions or charts they use?
 

TheBear

Member
Hey guys, I’ve been doing a slow carb diet (4 hour body) for the last 5 weeks with mixed results. It’s pretty much a paleo diet with beans, and one cheat day a week. I started the diet weighing around 103.5 kg (5’9) and got to around 100.5 kg, but then after the cheat I would bounce back to 103 then 101 and then bounce back again. So the net weight loss after the 5 week diet has been about 1 kilo due to the weight bouncing back. Last week I just started HIIT training (wasn’t doing any exercise before) and my weight has crept back up again.

So… I want to alter this diet a bit because it’s really expensive and I need some carbs for the training also. I was planning on including some brown rice with lunch, and also smoothies for breakfast (whey, oats, almonds, banana and almond milk). The smoothie I had this morning was nice and breaks up having eggs every day but I am a bit lactose intolerant and am paying for it right now.
I guess what I’m asking is, is this a good diet for weight loss? Am I penalising my hard work with the cheat day?
Also, with the smoothie. I have a feeling I am actually casein intolerant rather than lactose intolerant. Would subbing the protein powder for greek yoghurt work?
Appreciate any advice. Cheers
 
As greek yoghurt is mostly casein I'm not sure that would be a good idea. There are a number of non dairy protein options out there, though sadly they tend to be expensive.

You could certainly try whey protein isolate, which contains very little lactose or casein.
 

TheBear

Member
As greek yoghurt is mostly casein I'm not sure that would be a good idea. There are a number of non dairy protein options out there, though sadly they tend to be expensive.

You could certainly try whey protein isolate, which contains very little lactose or casein.

This is the protein I used (which is whey protein isolate apparently)
http://uk.usn-sport.com/en/whey-protein-premium


reason I brought up yoghurt is stuff like chobani or traditional greek yoghurt doesn't upset my stomach
 
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Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Hey guys, I’ve been doing a slow carb diet (4 hour body) for the last 5 weeks with mixed results. It’s pretty much a paleo diet with beans, and one cheat day a week. I started the diet weighing around 103.5 kg (5’9) and got to around 100.5 kg, but then after the cheat I would bounce back to 103 then 101 and then bounce back again. So the net weight loss after the 5 week diet has been about 1 kilo due to the weight bouncing back. Last week I just started HIIT training (wasn’t doing any exercise before) and my weight has crept back up again.

So… I want to alter this diet a bit because it’s really expensive and I need some carbs for the training also. I was planning on including some brown rice with lunch, and also smoothies for breakfast (whey, oats, almonds, banana and almond milk). The smoothie I had this morning was nice and breaks up having eggs every day but I am a bit lactose intolerant and am paying for it right now.
I guess what I’m asking is, is this a good diet for weight loss? Am I penalising my hard work with the cheat day?
Also, with the smoothie. I have a feeling I am actually casein intolerant rather than lactose intolerant. Would subbing the protein powder for greek yoghurt work?
Appreciate any advice. Cheers

Wow, you're almost like I was about 5 years ago.

I didn't see much progress doing what Tim Ferriss had outlined. I saw some, but it was slow. I went in the opposite direction to what you're considering, though, and completely cut out carbs (you don't actually need them for training). Dropped around 80 lbs. in the 10 months after that. I started at around the same weight as you, too. I'm closer to 5'10" ~ 5'11" though.

Drop the carbs, up the fat and I bet you'll find great success.
 
This is the protein I used (which is whey protein isolate apparently)
http://uk.usn-sport.com/en/whey-protein-premium


reason I brought up yoghurt is stuff like chobani or traditional greek yoghurt doesn't upset my stomach

Could literally be whey then. Don't really know much about that sort of thing, but I do know that whey protein gives me a headache and makes me feel generally shitty. Don't know what it is that causes it.

completely cut out carbs (you don't actually need them for training)

Depends on the type of training you're doing. For generally weights, running about etc, you don't... but if you're regularly up into the 80%+ range of your max heart rate (zones four and five), then your body can't provide energy fast enough on fat alone. You'll be able to handle a small amount, but trying to do a lot will utterly wreck you... and then wreck your training.

In fairness, this only really matters to a few sorts of people, but it's worth noting just in case.
 

TheBear

Member
Drop the carbs, up the fat and I bet you'll find great success.

Did you leave in the cheat days? did you leave in the beans?

Depends on the type of training you're doing. For generally weights, running about etc, you don't... but if you're regularly up into the 80%+ range of your max heart rate (zones four and five), then your body can't provide energy fast enough on fat alone. You'll be able to handle a small amount, but trying to do a lot will utterly wreck you... and then wreck your training.
.

Does HIIT apply here? I feel like dying when I start doing burpees. Zero energy
 
Depends on how long you're going really, when your most recent meal was etc etc.

But yeah, burpees are definitely the sort of exercise that would put you well into your higher heart rate zones.
 
To be honest, given the results it's hard to argue that it is. As a general rule I'd suggest you drop another 250kcal a day to see how that works out for you... but I couldn't comment specifically on your diet as I don't know it, and it's been about three years since I did low carb.
 
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Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Did you leave in the cheat days? did you leave in the beans?



Does HIIT apply here? I feel like dying when I start doing burpees. Zero energy

I dropped the beans for sure. I did leave in the cheat days, but soon I turned them into cheat meals (one epic dinner per week or so).

You probably feel like dying because you're still relying on glucose for energy. If you can get your body to be fat adapted for energy, you'll find that you don't burn out nearly as quickly.

Honestly, though, I didn't really start exercising until I had already dropped most of the weight. I find exercising while fat to be pure agony. Taking long walks, sure, but I wouldn't recommend anything intense beyond maybe some heavy lifting until you've dropped a lot of the excess body fat.
 

Tater Tot

"My God... it's full of Starch!"
Tomorrow I start my diet. I have already been tracking my macros but a couple of days a week I eat out. This generally means that I am not losing weight but not gaining weight either. I plan to consistently follow my macro plan M-Sat and have a refeed day on Sunday.

Probably update every Sunday morning with my weight.

Current weight: 199
Short term goal: 190
Long term goal: 180

Not fat not shredded kind of in between.
 
It occurs to me that I have no idea what weight I'm trying to be at the moment. I have a weight that I'm trying to stay below for the purposes of cycling efficiency, but everything else is largely based on what I see in the mirror.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
It occurs to me that I have no idea what weight I'm trying to be at the moment. I have a weight that I'm trying to stay below for the purposes of cycling efficiency, but everything else is largely based on what I see in the mirror.

Once you get out of obese territory, that really should be the way to go, honestly.
 

despire

Member
Hey guys, I’ve been doing a slow carb diet (4 hour body) for the last 5 weeks with mixed results. It’s pretty much a paleo diet with beans, and one cheat day a week. I started the diet weighing around 103.5 kg (5’9) and got to around 100.5 kg, but then after the cheat I would bounce back to 103 then 101 and then bounce back again. So the net weight loss after the 5 week diet has been about 1 kilo due to the weight bouncing back. Last week I just started HIIT training (wasn’t doing any exercise before) and my weight has crept back up again.

So… I want to alter this diet a bit because it’s really expensive and I need some carbs for the training also. I was planning on including some brown rice with lunch, and also smoothies for breakfast (whey, oats, almonds, banana and almond milk). The smoothie I had this morning was nice and breaks up having eggs every day but I am a bit lactose intolerant and am paying for it right now.
I guess what I’m asking is, is this a good diet for weight loss? Am I penalising my hard work with the cheat day?
Also, with the smoothie. I have a feeling I am actually casein intolerant rather than lactose intolerant. Would subbing the protein powder for greek yoghurt work?
Appreciate any advice. Cheers

Check how many calories you are eating atm and see how many you should be eating. If your deficit is too small, you won't see weight loss.

You don't need magic tricks to loose weight. Find a diet that you enjoy and make sure you are in a proper deficit. Eat high protein and adjust carbs/fat ratio to your liking. If you feel like you need more carbs vs fat, do so. Low carb isn't some magic bullet but it works like does high carb.

If you're not seeing weight loss, then you're probably just eating too much. That cheat day is a likely culprit as well since it's easy to undo your entire weekly deficit that way. I'd recommend skipping it entirely or making it a cheat meal. You're probably fat enough as to not need it anyway.
 

despire

Member
What is this? No one needs a cheat meal/day.

Well yes and no. If he was much leaner it wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily. Some psychological relief with some possible physiological bonuses. As long as you keep it within reasonable bounds and don't binge. Anyway he probably doesn't need them and isn't doing them correctly anyway apparently.

Most of the time cheat days cause more damage than they offer benefit but you can't make a blanket statement that "no one needs them". Just like you can't make blanket statements like "everyone should do low/zero carb diets."
 
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